The object of this Standard is to specify mandatory requirements for broadcasters and narrowcasters that relate to the quality of captioning services, to ensure that captioning services are meaningful to deaf and hearing impaired viewers.

Terms that are defined in the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 have the same meaning as in that Act, unless the contrary intention appears.

Act means the Broadcasting Services Act 1992.

broadcaster means a commercial television broadcasting licensee, a national broadcaster or a subscription television broadcasting licensee.

captioning obligations means the legislative obligations under Part 9D of the Act that require:

(a)commercial television broadcasting licensees and national broadcasters to provide a captioning service for programs transmitted under subsection 130ZR(1) of the Act;

(b)commercial television broadcasting licensees and national broadcasters to provide a captioning service for programs transmitted on their respective multi-channelled commercial or national television broadcasting services under section 130ZS of the Act;

(c)broadcasters and narrowcasters to transmit a minimum percentage of hours of captioned programs per year under sections 130ZT, 130ZU and 130ZV of the Act; and

(d)subscription television licensees to provide a captioning service for programs transmitted on a subscription television service under sections 130ZZ and 130ZZAA of the Act.

captioning service means a service in which captions are provided for programs, that enable the viewer to follow the speakers, dialogue, action, sound effects and music of a program.

captions meansthe visual translation of the soundtrack of a program in English, in word form.

distinct program segment within a television program means a distinct segment that is unrelated to other program segments within that same television program.

Broadcasters and narrowcasters must, when providing a captioning service in accordance with their captioning obligations, comply with the requirements relating to quality in this Standard.

Note: In exercising its enforcement powers under the Act, the ACMA takes the position that a program that does not meet the requirements of section 5 of this Standard will not be eligible to be used by a broadcaster or narrowcaster to comply with its captioning obligations.

6 Determining the quality of captioning services

(a)Subject to paragraph (b), when determining the quality of a captioning service for a program, the captioning service must be considered in the context of the program as a whole.

(b)When determining the quality of a captioning service for a program that is a distinct program segment within a television program, the captioning service must be considered in the context of that distinct program segment on its own.

(c)When determining the quality of a captioning service, the cumulative effect of the following factors must be considered:

(i)the readability of the captions;

(ii)the accuracy of the captions; and

(iii)the comprehensibility of the captions.

Note: Whilst noting that it is not authorised to determine that a lower quality of captioning service is acceptable for a kind of program or program material (see subsection 130ZZA(2B) of the Act), in determining this Standard, the ACMA has considered the differences (including time constraints for live content) between providing captioning services for live and pre-recorded television programs; and wholly live or wholly pre-recorded television programs and television programs that include both live and pre-recorded program material (see subsection 130ZZA(2A) of the Act).

The Broadcasting Services (Television Captioning) Standard 2013(in force under 130ZZA(1) of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992) as shown in this compilation is amended as indicated in the Tables below.